A Brief Return to Open Warfare - World War One Mod

30 March 1917
[BEST PLAYED HUMAN VS HUMAN] Following the Somme Offensive of
1916, the Germans withdrew to the newly established Siegfried
Stellung (Hindenburg Line). On 23rd February, patrols discovered
that the Somme trenches were vacated and the follow-up commenced.
The British Army's progress was considerably slowed by the zone
of devastation that the Germans left behind them as they retreated.
Trees were felled to block roads; bridges blown; railway tracks
were torn up; and hardly a building was left standing. Sporadic
contact was made with German rearguard forces, with cavalry reconnaisance
patrols playing a prominent role. As the British closed on the
Siefried Stellung, German resistance stiffened. On 27 March,
Canadian Cavalry attempted to bypass the villages of Fins and
Sorel, west of Villers-Guislain. Their efforts were repulsed
by stubborn German defences. The next two days, infantry reconnaisance
patrols attempted to enter the town of Heudicourt but they too
were repulsed on both occasions. It was clear that the Germans
were defending these localities in force. On March 30, an attack
was launched by the British 8th Division. The objectives of
the British forces were the capture of Fins, Sorel and Heudicourt,
followed by capture of the remaining features of the 'horseshoe'
(Genin Well Copses 1 & 2, and Jacquenne Copse) to ensure that
the villages could be held. The 8th Division captured all the
objectives in the course of a days fighting. A chronicler of
the Devon Regiment thought: "The whole operation proved conclusively
that trench warfare habits notwithstanding, the 8th Division
... had learnt to adapt themselves to the unfamiliar conditions
and problems of open warfare". [This scenario is based upon
the description of the action in "Epehy: Hindenburg Line" by
K W Mitchinson and "Action at Heudicourt" from the Yahoo: Great
War Spearhead website] Please see "Heudicourt - Special Rules"
for scenario specific rules on artillery and infantry use.Also, this scenario uses gas. If the artillery piece has gas ammo, use the SHIFT key while in fire mode for plotting to use gas ammo!